Alaska Cruises in the Summer - Part 1

Last year was my first time going to Alaska, it’s also my second and third time taking a cruise. My first cruise was in year 2012 so I am still a newbie with cruising experience.  At least this was better than the first time since I didn’t need to take any flight to the departure port (in 2012, I had to travel from Hong Kong to Singapore in order to board on the ship). Since I live in Metro Vancouver, I only needed to take Canada Line (our local city train) to the Waterfront Station in Downtown Vancouver and walk 7 minutes to the Canada Place Cruise Ship Terminal 🚢

This is Canada Place! Any guess on which cruise line I was with in early summer to Alaska?

There were three ships at Canada Place on my boarding day: Holland America Koningsdam, Majestic Princess and American Queen Ocean Victory.

From May 27 to June 3, I was on the Holland America Koningsdam which was launched in April 2016, a mid-sized ship with 99863 gross tonnage and it has the capacity for 2650 passengers and 1025 crew members. There are 12 decks and 1331 passenger cabins. 

We arrived at Canada Place around 10:15 am and by the time we could get on to Koningsdam it was already 12 noon. Canada Place was packed with people lining up for baggage drop-off, security screening, cruise check-in, US customs before we could wait in a seating room for the boarding.

My friend and I stayed in stateroom 7057 which was an inside cabin located on deck 7 in the front side of mid-ship area. Each of us paid CAD $860.21 inclusive of taxes and port fees for a 7 day trip. Let’s take a look at our stateroom first😉

There was plenty of space to store our stuff. I forgot to take the photos of closets and drawers. But cleanliness was more important than photography, my friend sanitized most areas such as tables, shelves, closets, drawers, telephone, dryer and bathroom counter which I felt good👍

OH NO! How come we got one queen bed!!! We requested for twin beds in advance. It made me feel like it's a honeymoon ❤❤❤

Let’s continue on with bathroom. Everything was like✨NEW✨as Koningsdam has only been in service for a few years.

It provided towels, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, hand soap and lotion. We needed to bring our own face cream including sunscreen, toothpastes, toothbrushes and hairbrushes. Their toiletries are from Elemis. While I was fine with the products, my friend found the shampoo a bit irritating due to its aroma ingredient. I recommend anyone with sensitive skin to bring their own shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion.

The size of its shower area was better than I expected considering this was an inside cabin. It could fit 2 people, very spacious. This was bigger than the shower area in my house!

After 1 pm, we went to Lido Market on deck 9 for a simple lunch. The meal was okay but the view was great!

We watched the seaplanes taking off from the water and coming back to the harbour during our lunch.

Water (both cold and hot), iced tea (tea with ice but no lemon as this is not iced lemon tea), regular coffee and tea were complimentary. Alcoholic beverages and soft drinks were not included. There was a fee for these beverages and the price was in USD.

Everyday we received a daily schedule. It showed we must visit and check-in at our emergency muster station on the first day. Not only did we have to visit our muster station on deck 2 or 3, we also needed to watch the safety video on our stateroom TV 📺. I couldn’t remember exactly where my muster station was, I think it was in its casino 🂡 .

There were also some optional activities such as restaurant reservations for dinners (if this has not been done before boarding) and💸$500 lucky draw for spa services.

After 3 pm, let’s return to our stateroom. Finally it was converted into two twin beds, thanks to our room attendants Putu and Aris😊 

But how come they put the luggages on our beds👀❓

Departure time was 4 pm but our ship Koningsdam didn’t leave Canada Place until 5:20 pm. 

In less than 20 minutes we passed by Lions Gate Bridge between Vancouver and North Vancouver.

Shortly after the departure, it was already dinner time. Usually they have early seating around 6 pm or late seating around 8 pm. We did not reserve any of these. We just walked in after 6 pm and we got a table in 5 minutes. It was a huge dining room located at the back side on decks 2 and 3. First night we were having dinner on the lower floor.

Do you know what I picked from the menu?

French onion soup with😅 … I forgot which main course was ordered. The dessert was chocolate fudge brownie cheesecake. Overall it was not bad since everything was included. The were some specialty restaurants that charged extra for the meals.  I am not wealthy enough to afford the specialty restaurant dinner😁

After dinner, we explored around the ship. By the time we found out there was an introduction about Alaska in World Stage on decks 2 & 3, it was just finished😌 We should have checked the schedule then we wouldn’t miss it. We also passed by B.B. King’s All-Stars in which both of us found the music🎷🎸🎵🎶🎹🥁 too loud so we went into the shops. Then we discovered jewellery booth called Inch of Gold. My friend said this is 一串金 made me think of 一寸光陰一寸金，寸金難買寸光陰💡

They also offered silver necklaces and bracelets 一寸銀. Since I have onboard credits of USD $17.50, I spent them all to buy 6 inches of star shaped silver bracelet ($3 USD/inch x 6 = $18) plus $4 for the hook so it came to a total of USD $22. With onboard credits, I only needed to pay USD $4.50.

Now we returned to our stateroom. Some information I forgot to share earlier … there were plenty of power outlets (four by the table, and another near one of the beds) to recharge our cellphones and portable chargers 😊

A safety box was provided to store important stuff such as passports, personal information documents and money, etc. There was a mini fridge with drinks inside. We didn’t touch any of them since we guessed they were not complimentary.

Each of us had our own closet with hangers provided, we were able to hang the dresses we brought for formal nights 😊

May 28 was a full day at sea 🚤 let’s start with a great morning! Last summer there were still 10% passengers wearing mask most of the time including me 😊 I had Snoopy mask (given by my cousin) and Snoopy outfit …. hehe! 

First let's start with breakfast which was available in Lido Market on Deck 9 from 7:00 – 10:30 am. It was wonderful to sit by the window and enjoy my continental breakfast with a cup of coffee.

When my friend joined me, the breakfast time was just ended. We were at Lido Market until they opened for lunch (11:30 am – 2:00 pm).

Both breakfast and lunch were buffet style and both sides of Koningsdam have the same stations including Bread Board, Wild Harvest, Distant Lands, Roasting Pan, Homestead and Sweet Spot, etc.

My favourite is always desserts so I checked out Sweet Spot first. I liked mango mousse, vanilla panna cotta and black forest roll.

I recall they could get vanilla or chocolate ice cream at the dessert station 🍨 

Homestead offered some nice dishes such as garlic lemon roasted chicken, fish and chips, almond crusted salmon, vegan potato vindaloo and French fries. There were self-served green salad and fruit (melons).

Bread Board for sandwich or sub lovers. Could get an apple from there too🍏🍎

Mexican food could be found at Roasting Pan including Mexican chicken, taco meat, refried beans. Soup of the day had shrimp and corn chowder or chicken noodle soup.

For those who love pasta must visit Distant Lands for macaroni and spaghetti with Alfredo, Bolognese or Marinara sauce. It offered some bread and healthy salad to choose from (broccoli, golden raisin and chickpea/ red beet, orange, pistachio and basil).

Complementary beverages could be found at both sides of the ship. It included hot/cold water, iced tea (be caution, this is ice + tea, no lemon), lemonade, regular coffee and a variety of tea like Jasmine, Lemon Lift, Cinnamon Apple, Orange & Spice, Chamomile, Green Tea, Earl Grey, etc. They also provided brown sugar.

My travel agent told me deck 10 lounge facing the ocean is her favourite spot . We spent the afternoon in this area where we would be able to see the pool on deck 9 when we faced inside and would be able to see the endless ocean when we faced the windows.

On the same deck, complimentary salads and pizzas were available. There was always something to eat, easy to gain weight 😋 But we always walked around on the cruise so there should be enough exercise 😊

Later on I visited a jewellery store as there are few duty free shops on the cruise. I still like my star shaped bracelet better.

Time for dinner. It was a dressy night (formal night), some cruises have formal nights on certain sea days. It was also 150^th anniversary for Holland America that’s why you can see “150” on the menu. Normally I don’t put on makeup or wear gowns so just transformed myself into purple lady😂the necklace was made by my mom 😊

On the other hand, my friend was very professional in dress up and looked very elegant. I couldn’t resist to take a picture of her.

Second night we were assigned to a table by the window. It was nice and quiet with an ocean view. I ordered tomato and potato-chive dumpling soup, cheese ravioli with porcini brown butter and blueberry cheesecake (if I remember correctly 😏) I also asked for chamomile tea which could be found in Lido Market too.

At night time🌙the ship was waving a lot when it passed by the inside passenger. We could feel it strongly although our room was on the mid-ship. No wonder my travel agent highly recommended me to bring Gravol ginger tablets.